Brek made a snort sound and shook his head. “I thought we were through with all this bullshit once Eli found Marlee. Not gonna lie, I was kinda sad. This is the fun part.”
“Fun for who?” Roman asked, frustration bubbling.
“Us.” Jase picked up the vase again and tossed it between his hands like a football. “This is gonna be more fun than usual.”
Roman leveled a stare at him.
“What’s up, fuckwads?” Zach tossed open the door and settled in on one of the chaise lounges Roman had set up. “What’d I miss?”
“Well.” Jase drew out the word. “I personally brought our brother three referrals for weddings in need of a photographer. Brek here is having liquor distribution issues so he’s avoiding them and hanging out with meandtrying to get in his quota of fucks for the day so he can go home and talk about being twitterpated.” Then he pointed to Roman. “Rome here is having not-getting-laid issues so he enlisted Babushka to help him—because he’s a fucking moron.” He gestured around the room. “It’s just a great day to be alive. The sun is shining, birds are chirping—”
“It’s raining outside.” Zach pointed out the window. “I don’t think the birds are out.”
Jase glowered at Zach, still tossing the damn vase. “Way to ruin the moment.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” Roman said to Zach before he stood and headed for the minifridge he kept in the closet so Babushka wouldn’t see it and get pissed he wasn’t buying soda from her break room. He grabbed a beer for himself, held one out for Zach, tossed Brek a can, and ignored Jase because he could.
Brek snorted. “Never a dull moment with the Dvornakovs.”
“It’s the truth.” Zach fist-bumped Brek.
Jase paused while arranging some fake tulips into the vase and raised his own fist to get in on the action.
“You are both shit brothers, you know that?” Roman asked.
“You should call Anna. She’d love to help you with your project,” Zach mused.
“Myproject?”
“Anna totally buys into all the love bullshit. She’ll help you,” Zach confirmed.
There was no way he would be involving his sister in anything. One Dvornakov woman’s assistance was plenty.
“Can I be serious for a second?” Jase asked, still arranging the fake red tulips.
“Can you ever be serious?” Roman asked.
“Har,” Jase replied. “Seriously, though, is Sadie the one?”
Roman stared at the mouse cursor on his screen as it blinked at him. “Yeah.”
“Then you’re doing the right thing, man,” Brek said, the words deliberate.
“Babushka threw Heather and me together. It was not the most fun I’ve ever had, but it led to the best thing I’ve ever had.” Jase pointed the vase at Roman. “And that’s the fucking truth.”
Wow. Jase could do serious. Who knew?
“I’m into Sadie,” Roman confided.
“I got that,” Jase said. “I want to help you make it work with her.”
Maybe Roman’s baby brother could be an ally in all of this.
“How do I get in on this moment?” Zach stood from the lounge, holding his arms wide. “I wanna sign up for this program.”
“You’ve got to meet someone first.” Jase tossed a tulip at his face. “We all know that’s not happening anytime soon.”
“How do we know that?” Zach picked up the flower from where it had fallen on the floor.
